Finally, this story suggests that American and US are largely the victims of bad timing. I think there's some truth to that. The industry is more consolidated now than when earlier mergers were approved. It is also more profitable. On the government side, the DOJ has had time to witness the consequences and feel some regret over the approval of earlier mergers and to gain comfort with enforcing the new Horizontal Merger Guidelines. Related, though unmentioned in the article, the DOJ's argument about coordination of baggage fees wasn't available for some of the earlier mergers.